O:
"We seek objective, precise, practical knowledge that we can USE to better
control our environment. Under conditions x and y, A will result. Under
conditions a, b, and c, Y will tend to vote Q. Without this sort of
predictive power, we could not exist as a society. Our very way of life
depends on how we USE knowledge to get what we need and obtain what we
want. The power to explain the world around us and to predict human
behavior serves everyone's interests. Accuracy, stability, and control are
the goals of our knowledge."

I:
"We seek to understand subjective, that is, individual experience
comprehensively, with a view to multiple and complimentary perspectives.
'Reality' so-called is negotiable and human beings are far too complex to
be subject to precise prediction and control. And even if it were
otherwise, who’s to say that (YOUR) control of human behavior is
desirable? We seek empathetic understanding, with a keen eye toward social
justice -- to liberate the oppressed. Meaning and understanding is the
goal of our knowledge, and with it we can revolutionize society."

O:
"Give us a break! Your knowledge is imprecise and impractical. It is not
the way of Science and not based on Universal Truths about the world or
about human beings. Our knowledge stands the test of time. Yours changes
on the whim of every new intellectual or popular fashion that comes along!
Your knowledge produces confusion and fragmentation. Since it is not based
on OBJECTIVE STANDARDS or TESTABLE THEORIES it is powerless to predict or
control and therefore of little value to human society. So, you value
multiple perspectives and interpretations. Interpret THIS!…And
while you’re at it, behold: A BRAVE NEW WORLD!"

I:
"We'll give you more than a break! We'll give you a clue! Your knowledge is
impersonal and exclusionary. Your 'big buck' mentality, your quest for
control, is precisely what results in human exploitation. In clean and
well-lit prisons do you labor under illusions of utopian grandeur. You
give us control by robbing us of freedom. You give us precision at the
expense of faith, hope, and love. Our knowledge aims at the whole person, joy and sorrow, ecstasy and despair, bondage and freedom,
good and evil -- a full range of human ideals and values.
Yours is the knowledge OF….ABOUT….and FOR robots. Ours is the knowledge of
fully-thinking, fully human – beings. Of you is the saying true: 'If
using your mind causes you to sin, stop thinking! For it is better to
enter the kingdom of God as an imbecile than to have your whole being cast
into hell.'"

Summary Lesson:

1.The tension
between objective and subjective approaches to knowledge will express
itself throughout
this course, and indeed throughout your college matriculation. You will
likely find yourself in
agreement with some aspects of one way of knowing and in agreement with
some aspects of
other ways of knowing.

2. The
subjectivist approach is, in part, a reaction against the failed utopia of
the scientific vision born of the
Enlightenment. Science gives us electricity, the cure (or at least the
hope of a cure) of many
life-threatening diseases, TV, packaged music, and the computer. It also
gives us blackouts, the prospect of
even more deadly diseases, mass destruction at the atomic level, germ
warfare, and, the Urban
Ghetto.

3. These camps
need not be mutually exclusive. Most "ways of knowing" fall in between.